Even If
by WouldWonderful
Summary: What if after passing through the Bermuda Triangle, Zack and Cody's lives don't return to normal? Cody/Bailey


**Author's Note: I had this idea after watching the episode Bermuda Triangle. It's basically just a Cody/Bailey story, but it will get pretty angsty. This is just the first chapter, and it's short. I just wanted to introduce the idea and see what you guys think. It has major spoilers for the episode Bermuda Triangle if you haven't seen it yet. Enjoy!  
**  
"Are we having a moment?"

They had been looking at each other, not for too long, but long enough for them to feel something. Neither of them was sure what it was, but Bailey was pretty sure she shouldn't be feeling this way about a guy who had not too long ago told her to "stay close" in case it didn't work out with the girls at the hot tub.

Nonetheless, she responded "maybe so" before she even had time to think about it. They _were_ having a moment, and for some reason she liked it, even though she had specifically told Cody that he was not the guy she was waiting for.

But that didn't really matter. She could have been wrong. After all, he had been acting a lot nicer in the past few minutes. He even wanted to get Zack a present. Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all. Yeah, that was it. Bailey leaned in. To do what, she wasn't sure. She was having a hard time thinking straight.

But Cody was trying this whole "nice guy" thing now, and he knew he shouldn't be flirting with the girl his brother had a crush on. "No, we can't," he said reluctantly. "You may not know this, but Zack has a huge crush on you."

Bailey explained that she did know about it. It was pretty impossible not to know, actually. Before Cody had much time to be creeped out about the heart cookies Zack had made for Bailey, Zack came over.

He told Cody that he had gotten asked out by a few girls. Cody was happy for Zack, but Zack himself was on cloud nine. He hadn't really ever gotten attention from a girl. He apologized to Bailey because he "couldn't be tied down" and she assured him that she would get over him somehow.

"Thanks to you, I have a date every night this week," Zack said, putting his arm around Cody. "Except Thursday, that's loom club."

Cody realized it _was_ all thanks to him. Even though he and Zack had only discovered they were related a few days ago, Cody had already helped him out a lot.

"What?" Bailey asked, noticing how proud of himself Cody looked.

"Well, you heard him. Thanks to _me_, he's going out with a bunch of girls. He seems to be getting over you quickly."

"Then I guess I owe you a thank you, too," Bailey pointed out. "I like Zack, but I don't think I'd ever date him, so him having a crush on me was a little annoying."

"You're welcome," Cody said, just a bit cockily. He hugged Bailey, and it was only a little weird. "Oh, and I-" He was going to apologize for being rude to her before, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. But at least he could admit to himself that he was sorry. She was being nice to him, after all, and she probably didn't deserve to be treated the way that he had treated her the past few days.

"You what?" Bailey asked. She couldn't explain it, but in the past few seconds she had seen a look in Cody's eyes that made her feel very strange. It was kind of like she was having déjà vu. But before she could mention it or Cody could answer her question, it was time to cut the cake.

0-0-0-0

The party went very smoothly, and Cody actually had fun for the first time in a long time. He tried to act nicer towards Woody and Marcus, and they were pretty nice in return.

The weird thing was, he couldn't stop thinking about Bailey. When he had first met her, he just brushed her off as another girl he might date for a few days. But she had been so nice to him, and she had even looked like she wanted to kiss him. Plus, now that Zack was moving on, there was really no reason for Cody not to ask Bailey out.

So before he went to bed that night, Cody swung by Bailey's room. She looked a little upset when he arrived, but when he asked why, she just said she was tired. When Cody asked her out, she smiled, but then she looked at him. Like _really_ looked at him. It made him feel really uncomfortable.

"Why are you doing that?" he asked, and even he wasn't sure what he meant by "that." But in the past few hours, Bailey had looked at him very oddly several times.

"Sorry," she said, looking down at the floor, another thing she had been doing a lot. "Look, I'm not so sure we should go out. I know you're trying to be nice or whatever, but I don't even really know you..."

Cody couldn't believe she was turning him down. She obviously did not get a lot of dates, so why would she refuse one?

"I guess I don't know you either," Cody replied, scoffing. "I thought you were one of the few normal people on this boat."

Bailey watched him walk away, and she was pretty proud of herself. She had wanted to go on a date with Cody, even if she didn't know why, but she had said no because he was still a sexist jerk. He had seemed to be changing, at least a little, but she barely knew him, and maybe he went through phases. She knew it was the smartest thing to just say no.

She couldn't help feeling a little sad though. Whether she liked it or not, she and Cody had some sort of connection.

Later that night, as she was trying to fall asleep, Bailey decided she didn't like it. The "connection" she thought she had with Cody had to be ignored, because if she got involved with him she knew she would just end up hurt.

**Author's Note: I know that wasn't very long or very informative, but I mainly wanted to see if you guys like the idea of the story. Obviously in the episode, Zack and Cody are very unlike their real selves, so it should be fun to write a whole story with them like that.**

**It's going to be awhile before I post the next chapter, because I'm still working on my other story, Easy With Eyes Closed. I'll probably finish that before I write another chapter of this, but I just wanted to post the first chapter of this before the idea was gone.**

Thank you so much for reading and please review! :)


End file.
